Second stage of board governance guidance for aspirant foundation trusts published

The second stage of the board governance assurance framework – the development modules – is available. The modules cover quality governance, organisational strategy and values, and financial governance.

Code of Conduct for Healthcare Managers

The Good Governance Institute supports the new Code of Conduct for Healthcare Managers, just launched by the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM).

Can NHS hospitals do more with less?

This review of hospital efficiency from the Nuffield Trust has found that there are many ways in which hospitals could improve efficiency and reduce the need for cutbacks in services for patients.

Delivering sustainable cost improvement programmes

This new guide from the Audit Commission and Monitor summarises how successful organisations approach the delivery of cost improvement programmes.

Telehealth: what can the NHS learn from experience at the US Veterans Health Administration?

This report looks in detail at the learning which could be gained from the largest telehealth implementation in the world. It outlines how best to address telehealth at scale and deliver significant potential benefits.

Preventing emergency readmissions to hospital: a scoping review

This report draws on a rapid review of evidence presented in systematic reviews that have been published in the past 18 months for the evidence and potential for use of emergency readmissions within 28 days of discharge from hospital as an indicator within the NHS Outcomes Framework. Sixteen published studies suggest that between 5 and 59% of readmissions may be avoidable.

PM announces new focus on quality and nursing care

The Prime Minister and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have announced a new drive to free up nurses to provide the care patients and relatives. This will involve rolling out the NHS Institute’s ‘Time to Care’ initiative which will free nurses from non-essential paperwork and excessive bureaucracy.

Tripartite Formal Agreement (TFA) – Performance and escalation process

The TFA process will be a key part of the single operating model for provider performance management which is being developed to support NHS trusts through the application process to become an FT. The DoH has developed a new performance and escalation process to support the delivery of the foundation trust (FT) pipeline, as part of the work to ensure NHS trusts meet their agreed milestones laid out in their TFAs.

Referral to Treatment Waiting Times Performance

This letter from David Flory, Deputy NHS Chief Executive, reiterates the expected performance on referral to treatment waiting times in 2012/13. It also sets out good practice to ensure performance is improved and maintained.

Service-line management: can it improve quality and efficiency?

This report from the King’s Fund considers how successfully are trusts implementing service-line management? This paper considers what helps and what hinders this way of working and the potential benefits of using this approach.